Her husband, while born and raised in a city, had he always wanted to be on the farm. He spent many summers at his grandparents’ farm helping out and at different friends’ farms.

From 1996 until 2001, she and her husband worked with a classmate in a partnership where they farrowed out 300 sows year-round and sold feeder pigs. In 2001, the family began ranching and farming with Kuss’s father until he retired in 2010. From then on, the family took over 100% of the operation.

“I always knew I wanted to come back to farming,” said Kuss. “I got the opportunity after my siblings decided they didn’t want the farm.”

The farm is 3,700 acres. Around 1,500 is for crops and 2,200 is for haying and pasture.

Submitted Photos The farm life is a family ordeal with every member working hard to help out.

When asked how she feels raising her family in the farming lifestyle and getting to work together on everything, she said she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“A life like this teaches them life isn’t perfect. The kids work together and they know hard work is good,” she said.

Her kids may not have the typical things other kids do, but they have a great work ethic and are able to just go outside to play and do their own thing. For the family, working together as one is something they enjoy, even on days when working on the farm might not be their first choice.

It was always a decision for her and her husband that if they had kids, they wanted to raise them themselves. Living in town and having different jobs would have meant the kids would have to be at a day care often, but living in the country area outside of Bottineau and doing what they do, they’ve been able to achieve their goal.

“The kids have been alongside us from day one. They’ll be in a stroller near by, safe, but always with us while we worked,” Kuss said. “They are gaining strong work ethics, self reliance and persistence. They are also being taught values in working together, problem solving, being dependable, being compassionate and (to have) overall faith.”

Submitted Photos The farm life is a family ordeal with every member working hard to help out.

The family raises cattle, sheep, dairy goats that are milked to raise bottle lambs, horses, and pigs for the kids’ 4-H projects.

“We always enjoyed working with livestock. Every spring there is an excited anticipation as new babies arrive to see if the genetic selections and changes in our program have made the positive impact that we had hoped for, and the constant challenges of what we can do better for next year. Livestock have many challenges and struggles but can be very rewarding,” said Kuss’ husband.

Each kid also has their own cattle and sheep that they get to raise.

“To someone else, they all look the same, but to the kids, they can point out exactly which is which,” she said.

Along with livestock, they do mostly small grains for their crops. They grow wheat, barley, soybeans, canola, peas, and oats. Some years they will plant silage corn and have also raised alfalfa.

“After harvest, we plant multi-species cover crops for soil health and fall grazing the livestock,” said Kuss.

An aunt of the family, Kathleen Kittleson, said “My niece and her husband and their three girls are the hardest working farm family.”

For the Kuss family, farming is extremely important. They have a strong passion for raising livestock and taking care of the land. They work to do their best to preserve and improve the land for the future generations while doing what they love.